1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of simulation of electronic systems and, more particularly, to the simulation of hot plug and hot pull functionality of electronic systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, the development of components for an electronic system such as a computer system includes simulation of models of the components. In the simulation, the specified functions of each component may be tested and, when incorrect operation (a bug) is detected, the model of the component may be changed to generate correct operation. Once simulation testing is complete, the model may be fabricated to produce the corresponding component. Since many of the bugs may have been detected in simulation, the component may be more likely to operate as specified and the number of revisions to hardware may be reduced. The models are frequently described in a hardware description language (HDL) such as Verilog, VHDL, etc. The HDL model may be simulated in a simulator designed for the HDL, and may also be synthesized, in some cases, to produce a netlist and ultimately a mask set for fabricating an integrated circuit.
Many modem electronic systems are designed to allow for hot plug and/or hot pull of components. A component is “hot plugged” if the component is inserted into an electronic system without removing the power from the system. Similarly, a component is “hot pulled” from a system if the component is removed from the system without removing power from the system. Depending on the design of the system, the system may be brought to a quiesced state prior to the hot plug/hot pull operation or may be operating normally when the hot plug/hot pull occurs. Since the hot plug/hot pull functionality is part of the design of the system, it is desirable to simulate the hot plug/hot pull functionality.